NFIB To Working Families Party: Let’s Work Together

The National Federation of Independent Businesses doesn’t have a lot in common with the union-backed Working Families Party.

But with the next legislative session in New York only seven weeks away, the business group hopes the WFP’s support of Andrew Cuomo and his hold-the-line agenda will put them on the same page.

Michael Elmendorf, the NFIB’s state director, sent a letter to Working Families Party Executive Director Dan Canton urging him to support a plan to cap property taxes, spending and improve the overall business environment in New York.

In the letter, Elmendorf writes:

Some of the more cynical members of the media and others have suggested that this dramatic reversal was little more than a politically expedient move to preserve the WFP’s ballot status. I, however, would prefer to take you at your word and wholeheartedly concur with your statement that we are at “a pivotal moment in the history of this state” and that “leaders in the labor, civic, business and political arena must put aside their individual agendas for the good of the entire state.” You’re right.

Cuomo took the endorsement of the WFP after an investigation cleared the party’s for-profit arm Data and Field Services of any wrongdoing in the New York City elections. Cuomo said at the time the party signed on to his agenda.

Having Cuomo on its line helped the party this election season. The WFP was able to secure the necessary 50,000-plus votes in order to maintain its automatic ballot status.

Cuomo plans to push for a two percent cap on property taxes, a tougher cap than what passed the Democratic-led Senate earlier this year. He also is trying to leverage a campaign to push back against labor and union interests as he works to enact the campaign pledges.